I’m now ready to tackle the outfeed support arms, but have a question.The instructions on page 6 say “Then I took them to the router table and routed a stopped groove partway along the inside of each piece.” The measurements are all there as to how wide and deep the grooves should be and I know what the end product should look like. Each piece measures 48” I’ve never stopped a groove before mid piece.

Maybe I’m missing something obvious, but how do I stop? Do I just leave the workpiece on the bit and switch off the router?? I certainly don’t want a four-foot projectile coming off the table.

After I rout the groove, I have to rout a slot in the groove. Again, how do I start and stop that?

Any pointers?

Thanks.S

-- No, I don't want to buy the pink hammer.

31 replies so far

I just stop moving the piece and lift it up. I continue to hold it against the fence, then lift only one end of the board until it clears the route bit. Lift the end that has the groove or dado cut in it, so you don’t angle the uncut part of the board into the bit. I’ve never had any problem doing it this way with the router still running.

JJjust clamp some stops on the router table ,reduce the size of your router bit ,center the smaller bit and make a cut half way through on one side then turn the board over and cut through to complete the groove.

Maybe try to clamp some guides on the piece. I’d run a few dry runs on some scrap. Thing is….. it’s only wood. For me (not saying this includes you) I’m used to having a few fails and learning a bunch from them. You can do it.

since it means you have to let go of the board to turn the router off it could be more dangerous to turn it of verses just doing it while the routers running. the trick is to make sure you have your board firmly against the fence,I must have done this a thousand times with out problems.All said and done you should not do any operation you don’t feel safe doing. Depending on the type of wood you use it can burn the wood turning the router off.

First off, are you using a router table? If you are then this is pretty easy. You need to put lines all around the board where the router stops are. Then mark your fence and or router table where the front and rear of the bit is. Do this after you set the fence for the center of the board. When you go to rout, set the bit height to take a small bite, somewhere around an 1/8” or so depending on how dense of wood you are using. Then turn on the router and hold the board against the fence and lower it straight down onto the bit. Rout until the line on the board and the line on the fence line up. If you are confident that the groove is centered then flip the board and do the other side. Then raise your bit another 1/8” or so and repeat until the slot is all the way through. I built that exact planer stand last year. Your gonna like it, it works great.

I set up stop blocks on either side of the bit so I would have equal spaced groove. Start somewhere other than either end of your groove, then back feed and/or go forward until your groove is right. Make the groove in a couple of passes, cuting deeper on each pass until your reach the desired depth. Then change bits and do it again.

Here is a picture showing two grooves to hold pencils, pointers etc. I set up the table so I could make one groove, then turn the board around and do it again. The result was two identical grooves.